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About SIGN

about SIGN

EMPATHY IN ACTION

WE WORK THROUGH THE HANDS AND MINDS OF LOCAL SURGEONS IN UNDER-RESOURCED HOSPITALS WORLDWIDE

We are a humanitarian organization that is responding to the need to provide orthopaedic treatment to trauma victims in developing countries. We focus on the poorest countries where the epidemic of road traffic and other accidents cause the most disability and loss of lives. The injured poor often languish in under-resourced government hospitals because they cannot afford to purchase the medical devices needed to repair their badly broken bones. Their orthopaedic surgeons become discouraged every time they walk into wards and see more patients for whom they cannot give appropriate treatment. We alleviate this burden by providing the local surgeons with the training and medical implants they need to properly treat the patients that they serve. It is through the hands and minds of the local surgeons that we can promote healing, restore health, and provide hope to the trauma victims and their families.

Dr. Myat Lwin from Yangon General Hospital in Myanmar describes the painful experience that his patient endured when she was hit by a truck. The impact caused two broken femurs and terrible open wounds. Dr. Lwin performed flaps to close the wounds using techniques he learned at the SIGN flap course put on by The Institute for Global Orthopaedics and Traumatology (IGOT) in San Francisco. This patient, who works as a farmer, will receive the SIGN IM Nail to repair her broken leg once her wounds have healed.